


Doom: Redemption Denied

by Crazyscientist85



Category: Doom (Video Games)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Gen, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2020-11-23 00:06:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20882897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crazyscientist85/pseuds/Crazyscientist85





	1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 0 - FIDES ET RATIO**

******

I fucking love seeing my Heavy Assault Rifle tearing holes in Imps. Bastards are cannon fodder, sure, but who wouldn't enjoy seeing 50. BMG rounds turning those brownskins into Swiss cheese? They are demons. Do I need an excuse to see them suffer?

The unrelenting barrage of white hot lead tore limbs, broke bones and turned meat into paste. Five Imps went down without breaking a sweat. Five more kissed the ground with a series of short bursts. Each bullet hit either the head or the chest with surgical precision.

“_Why are you here?_” 

A voice hissed into my mind just as I turned to see a Hell Knight running full speed towards me. HAR is too soft for a Knight, so I swapped it with my Super Shotgun; the ultimate demon-slaying weapon, made from God himself to purge the wicked asses.

Both barrels boomed as two shells full of pellets were unleashed upon the demon. It wasn't close, so the pellets scattered, punching many tiny holes in its chest. A fist tried to smack me in the head. I reloaded the Super Shotgun and fired again. The Hell Knight's hip exploded into chunky salsa that flew everywhere, even on my armor.

“_No! I washed it just a fucking world ago!_”

I thought it was time to put some fear of God into this bastard, so I took out the Great Communicator. What is that? Why, my Chainsaw of course!

The guide bar went down just as the freak turned around. It fell on the Knight's forehead, splitting the head. Unsatisfied, I pushed it further, until whole body was halved, like gutting a pig or something. I knew I should've been a butcher.

“Demonic presence eliminated.”

My helmet displayed a warning, telling me that the Hell Knight was the last pain in the ass I had to kill to clean up the mess that was the outpost I landed into. Yet another reality was safe thanks to the “Doom Slayer”. It was… what, number one thousand and one? Lost count millenia ago, just like I lost my body count.

Not that it mattered, honestly. It's always the same shit. Demons show up to fuck shit up, I come from whatever bumfuck place I previously landed, kill them all, rinse and repeat. In my earlier days, when I was still a greenhorn, there was excitement and wonder and shit. Now? Now it's all a blur. Don't care where I am. Don't even care who is the newest victim in line. My latest “adventure” was this UAC outpost, or at least I think it is. I swear I saw the logo somewhere.

Ah, the UAC. Union Aerospace Corporation. It always brings back memories of my deployment on Mars just because of that stupid officer I punched one too many times. My troubles began on Phobos, one of the two moons. It's all clear as day. Right there, I encountered my first Imps. Fuck me, I thought. Aliens? On Mars? Since when? Why nobody told me we fought aliens all of a sudden? What was I supposed to do with the stupid confetti shooter that was the pistol they gave me?

It all went downhill the more I saw them in action. Okay. For some reason, aliens could throw fireballs. Sure. They could also revive the dead. Alright. The dread I felt was explainable. I figured out their true nature once I met my first Pinky. The little horns gave it away.

Demons.

What. The. Fuck.

I was legit scared at that point, even more so when I learned that the shaved gorilla required a bit too many shotgun shells than a living being should be able to take. Wasn't even sure if my guns did something. It was like fighting clones, only way more frightening.

From then on, my life got shittier and shittier. I ended up in Hell, fought the (then) tallest fucking demon I've ever seen, stopped a brain on legs, returned to Earth, saved the Earth, took part in the Plutonia experiment (that one made me want to kill myself), said “fuck it” and retired, but then returned to Mars, whooped some ass, destroyed the Mother Demon, and decided to remain in Hell, because by then I stopped giving a fuck.

Then began my journey through thousands of different realities, armed with hundreds of different weapons. I once went medieval on their asses, then I became a pirate, then a fucking _elf_ of all things, then I went back in time, then I went forward in time, and then I slaughtered my way through a technological Hell, and then and then. Fuck it. There's so much, I get a headache just thinking about it.

The only thing that always remained the same was the demonic threat. So many of them. So. Fucking. Many. I should know. Went against them for aeons and I still think I barely scratched the surface of this cancer. Boy, do they come in many flavors. There's the up close and personal ones, there's the invisible assholes, the ones that teleport, some can bend reality, others can steamroll a galaxy. Blue, brown, gray, red, green, black, yellow, white, pink. All of them are deadly, even the weakest ones.

“_Cursed be your name, Doom Slayer! Cursed be the day you were born! My brethren shall melt your tools of warfare and fill your intestines with their slurry._”

That's when the AI in my helmet (courtesy of an alien race I helped) went absolutely apeshit.

“Warning! Increase of Delta waves detected. Presence of Argent Energy detected. Demonic invasion imminent.”

I swore under my breath, thinking how a horde was likely to appear. You see, sometimes the demons feel like the odds are in their favor, so they send a massive wall of flesh against me. One time they sent five hundred of them. I still came out on top though, for reasons that will soon be explained.

At the other end of the place, easily some three hundred meters away, a massive pillar of energy sprung into existence, turning into a red rift, a wound in reality used for dimensional travel, from which all kinds of shit came out in one giant group. I couldn't help but smirk under my helmet. It was too perfect to be real. They lined up like bowling pins. I had to do it. I simply had to.

I brought out the BFG.

God, the sheer horror of _realization_ that struck their faces was priceless. By all means, it was the correct answer. This gun, the BFG? It's a monster. When a shotgun to the face won't do, then the only option left is to hurl a mini-star at them. Guaranteed success.

Luckily, I had one more shot left. The heavy trigger clicked as the massive weapon began whirring into life. In just a few seconds, the BFG shot a tiny green sphere at the demonic crowd. Everything that stood in its path liquefied like ice cream in the middle of a desert. The stragglers were zapped, exploding into bloody mists as guts, brains and pieces of bone splattered across the nearest surfaces.

It was a massacre.

What I didn't predict was the impact of the miniature star with the rift. For some reason I didn't understand, the collusion of two forces unleashed a massive amount of energy that changed the rift entirely. It went from red to green to white. What was then a door for another reality, now was a vacuum cleaner that attracted all things that weren't welded to the ground or walls.

That included me.

Now it was my turn to freak out. There was no way to tell if that thing was safe. Hell would be a nice destination, because then I could continue my crusade until they kick me out again. The vacuum of space, on the other hand? That's a big no-no. Even for me. So I did the first thing that came into my mind: I spun around and ran. It sounds stupid, but I was pretty confident in my running abilities.

I was twenty meters away from the nearest door. It was my only hope for salvation. As I ran, inching towards my goal at snail's pace, another thought came up all of a sudden. It was something like this:

“_Wait. Am I stupid or what? I have no problem with going to Hell, but I'm scared shitless of the spatial void? Fuck the void! I'm a space marine! I kick ass in every environment!_”

My whole body turned around with the speed of a bullet. My legs carried me towards the rift as I stashed away the BFG. Crossing my fingers, I rushed head first into the very thing that I tried to run away from moments ago, unaware of the shitshow that was about to happen.


	2. Chapter 1 - Sola Fide

**CHAPTER 1 - SOLA FIDE**

***********

****

Ever tried a reality jump? What about teleportation? Figured as much. It's not something worth experiencing. They both fucking _suck_.

My first few attempts at teleportation, back on Mars' moons, left me with a strange tingling sensation, followed by the urge to vomit my guts out. With my return to Earth, I became used to it, realizing that it would be a rather common thing. I had to suck it up, otherwise there would be no man left to save Humanity. God, what a mess it was. I still bear the scars. Not all of them are physical.

Poor Daisy.

I wept like kid when I saw what _they_ did to her. Her foot now dangles from my hip, as a reminder of those days when mankind lost its ignorance. Yeah, Earth became my 'Nam.

Right, teleportation. That sucks. You know what else sucks? Reality jumps. I came up with that name, you know. Not my proudest moment, but I'm not a scientist. Basically, I go through a rift and end up in a whole different reality, where the rules of the game changes. Sometimes the change is insignificant. Sometimes the change makes you curse yourself. A matter of luck, I suppose.

So I went through that rift, fingers crossed, hoping that I wouldn't end up in the vast void that is space. In a moment, I found myself in a moderately-sized room lit with white candles, surrounded by people covered in white cloth from head to toe. While my brain tried to figure out what the fuck was going on, the audience cheered with the happiness of a football team. I thought I must have landed in a place I already visited in the past, if the euphoria was any indication. 

Unexpected, but not unwelcome. It's not the first time my arrival was expected like that. Many groups and individuals waited for me to come, usually with high expectations, like a knight in shining armor or whatever. I broke one too many of those expectations when I came covered in blood and viscera. But these people? They didn't give a damn. I think they actually welcomed it.

“It is true! The Gifted One has come to help us fight against the demon and the heretic!”

“_Gifted One?_”

All these escapades of mine earned me quite a few titles, not all of them necessarily from demons. The Hellwalker, the Unchained Predator, That One Asshole, One Man Army, and many other colorful names. However, the “Gifted One” was a first. I hoped they failed to see my face through the visor, because my eyebrows almost touched my scalp. It didn't take a genius to figure out the origin. They were probably referring to the blessing I got from one of the dudes upstairs.

I wasn't always the “Doom Slayer”, that one mortal boogeyman who hides under the bed of every sleeping demon. Back then, when I was “B.J.” (fuck off), the best thing I was able to do was to send their demonic asses back to Hell by “killing” their physical manifestations. Demons are immortal. Beings of pure spirit. I was just a pain in the ass that delayed the inevitable and pissed off one too many demons. Things went tits up (for them) when, at one point, one of the big G's best buddies contacted me and gave me a blessing. I just shrugged and went on my way. 

Then I got in a fight.

My very first victim after that was a brownskin. I remember blowing its head off with my shotgun. The moment, the very fucking moment, the body dropped like a rock, every demon in my surroundings stopped moving and silently turned to look at the corpse. They stared for, like, a good five minutes, before turning back to me. If looks could kill. “Oh shit” was what I thought, knowing that things would never be the same again

And I was right. The current situation was all the necessary proof.

The crowd stopped cheering once they heard the clapping of hands. The party breaker turned out to be none other than the head honcho by the looks of it. The weird hat on their head and the symbols woven into their garments with golden threads kinda gave it away. But maybe I was wrong, I don't know. My brain jumped the ship when they felt the need to express themselves.

“Welcome to the Unyielding Alliance Collective, Gifted One!” they said, after the crowd split in two, “My name is Fortunato the Third, Archibishop of the Oriental Commonwealth, loyal servant of the UAC, and a weak coward that asks mercy from you.”

In all honesty, I wasn't even focused on the man who fell on his knees, clasped his hands, and lowered his head in supplication. Like I said, my brain seppuku'd itself, though I was sure that my helmet, and my silence, made it look like I was willing to drop a hammer on his head. God, it was awkward. Even more so when everyone played follow the leader.

I couldn't wrap my head around it. Unyielding Alliance Collective is not what the UAC stands for in virtually all realities I ever visited. What did an archbishop had to do with a corporation? My danger-sense went through the damn roof. Something went very wrong in that reality.

“Oh, Gifted One! You came in a time of great need!” he continued, “Pardon my rudeness, for I ask your aid in battle against the unholy beasts that invaded our second world, Mars, and are currently preparing for the invasion of Earth...”

My right hand went up. He shut his mouth, bowing his head even lower, almost to the ground. Good. He understood right away. For a moment I thought I had to explain it with words, which was kinda hard to do because a Baron lookalike with wings once hit my throat with a fireball. Now I can hardly speak without sounding like a monster, so I almost always keep my mouth shut. That's okay because I convinced that demon to eat its own knee caps.

“I-I'm sorry for offending you...”

Shit. He didn't understand shit. Sighing, I punched my helmet, much to the crowd's confusion. Time for the AI to speak for me. I always forget to go and give my thanks to the people who gave it to me.

“The Doom Slayer does not require further explanation. He wishes to be led to the battlefield where he can cleanse the demonic infestation. There was no offense taken.”

Here I noted another strange reaction. One would think that a human was hiding under this bulky green armor. To hear a monotonous, robotic voice come from the speakers of the helmet would shake that belief and lead to doubt. The earlier confusion went away with almost the same speed with which it appeared. Many had good poker faces, but those who didn't had this particular air around them, as if they understood the problem with my throat. Fine by me, I thought. The sooner I could choke a demon the better.

“O-oh. I see. But...” he bit his lower lip, grimacing, “We thought of sending you on Mars with a group of our best soldiers. They could reclaim our lost outposts as you clear the path.”

“Question: when did the invasion of Mars take place?”

Fortunato glanced at some people behind him before replying: “Year 2158 AD. Seven years ago.”

A whistle escaped from my mouth, which may or may not have been muted by the helmet. They held their own against demons for seven years? I had to know how.

“Question: how exactly did you survive for so long?”

“Why, it was thanks to one of His holy Messenger of course! He was sent to defend our planet from the demon and to slay every heretic that plagues our lands.”

“Question: why didn't you take back Mars with his help then?”

“Mankind has a lesson to learn from all of this. It was our uncontrollable greed that led us to this catastrophe. We must take measurements against it.”

“Conclusion: doesn't look like you are on the winning side.”

“Actually, we managed to establish a small foothold in one of our bases on Deimos, one of the two moons of Mars. Unfortunately, we are stuck at an impasse. Even with the blessings the Messenger bestows upon our equipment, our men failed to make any progress for the past five years. We have to-”

“Demons! Demons are attacking us!”

A whelp of a man came running out of nowhere, eyes wide and face pale. People looked at him as if he were crazy. He repeated his warning two more times. Fortunato ran up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Demons? Where, son? Speak.”

“It's the holy father in the Eden District! He turned into a demon in front of my eyes! People started changing right after him!”

Gasps all around me.

“That's impossible! Have you gone mad? Unless...”

I didn't wait to hear the explanation. My legs carried me out of the room and down the hallway. I zipped past several people. Those who stood in my way were pushed sideways. Taking the elevator would be too slow, so I opted for jumping through the nearest thing that passed for windows in that reality, which was really just a glass panel that stretched from the floor to the ceiling. Before the heartless bitch known as gravity did its trick, I had the pleasure to take in the aesthetics that not-UAC Earth had to offer. 

Rarely did I get to enjoy beautiful scenery. You know, demons and shit. Can't help it. Even now, I lack the words necessary to explain what I saw. Something akin to really, really, _really_ ancient cathedrals (gothic?) as far as the eye can see, if those were built like skyscrapers and in a time where people thought going into a disco was the coolest thing in the world. For real. Yellowish concrete, stained glass, statues, towers, and I think I saw a bell or two…

But, motherfucker, I started falling. And I was falling _fast_. Not really a problem, I jumped from higher places, but the fact that I was going to land in the middle of a street made me kinda irritated. You know how a meteorite blows shit up when it falls down? Usually I came with the same effect, which becomes annoying when you have to walk around things so fragile that break easier than a twig. There were no civvies nearby, thank God. Didn't hurt anyone. That was always good. Can't say the same for cars. The parked ones became expensive junk. Others crashed, either into each other or into the nearby buildings, their drivers cursing everyone and everything.

Here's the thing, though. Things like cars could always be fixed. People? Not so much. Now that I think about it, I may or may not have given a fatal heart stroke to few employees of some nameless insurance companies with my dramatic act. Oops.

“Question: where can the Doom Slayer find the Eden District?”

The AI, blunt as always, blurted the question out from my helmet to the people who began gathering around me. Some of them pointed to my right, down the street. I gave a thumbs up and went on my way.

***

[UAC REPORT FILE A55-X12.]

[EXCERPTS FROM OBJECT A55-X12-1, DISCOVERED IN [DATA REDACTED], SEE DOCUMENT A55-X12 FOR FURTHER CLARIFICATION]

_Hear me, oh nobles of the house of Aegnea! Let these words be written down so that whoever finds them learns of the danger! Hear my words, son of Urest, daughter of Mathilda. Hear the warnings given to me by the Spirits!…_

_...Truly, while you enjoy this lavish feast and throw yourselves into the wildest abandon, the Enemy continues to scheme, to whisper cursed words into the ears of those you trust the most, so that one day they may stab you in the back, enjoying the chaos that will ensue. The Enemy does not eat, it does not waste time on pointless feasts, but it carefully observes the outer walls that guard this kingdom, relentlessly searching for cracks to fit through. It takes the disguise of an ordinary wanderer, so that it may enter our towns and spill its poisonous filth on our streets…_

_…many lives will be lost. Such is the fate of those who ignore these warnings. The Enemy will conquer these lands and torch them all, until there is nothing left. Only few will be saved, for they will prepare themselves to flee from the upcoming darkness. The Spirits will take them to a place where the Enemy will never be able to touch them. Do not hope for the Knight in Green or the Young Traveler. They must fight their own war._


	3. Chapter 2 - Cogito Ergo Sum

**CHAPTER 2 - COGITO ERGO SUM**

*******

A smartass once said: “Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?” That smartass ended up like the ones before him: six feet under with his soul assraped by all of Hell. Another one bites the dust.

Why I thought this all of a sudden? No fucking idea. Actually, I do. I had to keep my mind occupied with something while I ran down the street at the speed no Human alive could. Although, calling myself Human might be a bit of a stretch, since I'm (and I'm confident about this one) the closest thing to an immortal a mortal can be. We're talking about me chugging Soulspheres and Megaspheres every chance I get, we're talking about muscles reinforced with carbon nanotubes, we're talking about my armor (funny story; this demon tried to bribe me with it in exchange for letting it go, so I shot the demon and took the armor), we're talking about me using fucking _magic_ of all things.

And there's always the blessing. I can never, should never, forget that one. What does it do? It turns everything I touch into a weapon that can kill demons. That's how I drowned a blue-skinned Cyberdemon once. Fucker required a whole dam of water to give up.

Awesome, I know, but that's the point. Anything less wouldn't be enough. Too bad I don't have a lot of time on my hands, no matter how ironic that sounds. I really wished to go on a tour. That's how much breathtaking the city was. They even had blimps! And flying islands! The sunlight made it look like they were made of gold. It made me angry a bit. I had to willingly miss out on such a thing because a fucking demon or two couldn't get hard without causing a shitstorm.

Thanks to a truck driver who gave me a lift to the nearest plaza, where they had fountains on top of fountains, I was able to reach this “Eden District” in no time. Had to go through a building or two with my Rocket Launcher, then run some more. But I was there.

And boy did I come at the right time. Whatever these people had for a police force tried desperately to shield the civilians or hold the lines. From what? From the horde of Possessed and Unwilling that came towards them. Good thing they had vests, energy shields and turrets. And guns.

There is actually a distinction between the two. The Possessed are either corpses, which I call “Undead”, or living beings, called “Former (Insert Name)”, under demonic influence. The Unwilling, on the other hand, are corpses that stayed in Hell for so long that they became “demonoids”, things that were once mortal but now are lesser demons. In terms of strength, there really is no difference. A well-placed shot with any gun should do the trick.

Like it did with the cops. At first, I was skeptical about their probability of survival. Until I remembered that they, apparently, apply blessings on their equipment, which would explain why a guy with an SMG mowed the uglies down with relative ease, or why another dude's shotgun could rip through several Possessed at once. They were so focused on the horde, they didn't bother to acknowledge my presence.

“There is no shelter for the demon and the heretic!”

“Die! Die and leave us alone!”

The one decked in full body armor carried a grenade launcher. It was the size of my HAR. Rather than firing actual grenades, though, it fired glass spheres filled with water. No joke, those things turned the Possessed and the Unwilling into melted cheese. Except the Former Humans. They just had a seizure and then took a nap.

Even with all of those pretty toys, it still wasn't enough to stop the tide of flesh in front of them. Of course, that's where I come in. The policemen jumped in surprise when they heard my HAR going off, continuously dishing out bullets that tore off meat from bones in a splendid gorefest. I had lots of ammo, so I went nuts with the trigger. Five minutes of holding the trigger resulted in more than three hundred corpses. The entire street turned into a graveyard.

I did try my best to avoid hitting Former Humans, but there was always a dumbfuck who just had to stand in front of my gun. I accepted the full responsibility of my actions, like I always did, though I hoped they would understand. I lowered the gun and admired my work. They did too.

“Holy...” a man with a moustache gulped loudly, “Who are you?”

“Fool!” the one next to him commented, “Take a good look at him!”

“...oh.”

I left. Chatting idly while there were demons around was stupid as fuck. How did I know? Because the horde I just exterminated was hardly what one could call a main force. They were mere cannon fodder, like the Hellspawn they sometimes create.

Down the road I met more Unwilling, but not Former Humans. This meant I came before they could mass-possess people. Still, my fury descended upon them in the form of .50 BMG. Fist-sized craters blew their bodies apart, massive chunks of flesh flew until they found a surface, even if it were my armor. I threw my HAR at an Unwilling before heading for another. My right hand crushed its windpipe as it tossed the lesser demon on the ground like a rag. Stomping its back, I tore off its head and threw it at the window of a store.

A fat, headless corpse rolled out from that same window moments later, followed by a strange humanoid creature. I had no fucking idea what I was looking at. All I knew was, if a pill bug had arms and legs and a squid for a head, this creature would be it.

It stared at me with its fucked up eyes. A chill ran down my spine. It was a familiar feeling, like the first time I saw an Imp. But there was no way that thing could have been an Imp. I know over fifty types of Imps. Peons, Subjugators, Flayers, Grunts, Hellions, Heartcarvers… None of them was even close to that shit. It had to prove me wrong by _vomiting_ blobs of bile at me, something that was (for me) easy to dodge. The blob dropped on the asphalt, melting it.

Alright. Quick lesson in demon slaying. Imps: little bastards that shoot fireballs. May or may not be retarded. Or simply fucking insane. Shotgun is perfect. If the first shot fails, shoot again. If you need a third shot, use something stronger or run. In my case, one shell blew off its leg, just because I could, then the second ended its life as soon as it dropped. I strongly advise against fucking around with an Imp. Some can, and will, jump around like rabbits or return back to life because they can pull a “ha-ha it was a clone” trick.

When I thought I was done, three more wormed out of the building. Their combat strategy was a joke. Stand still if you vomit your guts out, otherwise walk around as if everything is perfectly fine. I was slightly irritated because of their presence, so I aimed for their heads, hoping to finish things off quickly.

But fuck you, Doom Slayer, for we are immune to headshots! That's what I thought, right, because they continued vomiting from their fucking _necks_. So I went for their legs and arms. Turns out you have to destroy two or more limbs to kill them. I had to smile. Demons that I had to actually rip and tear to kill? Sign me in!

“_Wait, before I go..._”

I hit my helmet. The AI scanned the remains, searching for any matches inside my already huge bestiary. None were found, so it quickly connected to local computers and whatnot. A picture of these disgusting fucks appears on my visor, including a name given to them by the locals: Filth.

Well, they certainly looked like filth. The proportions were all wrong. And every single one of them was unique in some way. One had three legs, another had two arms and so on. They were kinda like apples: same shape, different colors. Fuck, I'm getting philosophical.

I was on the move again. The streets were littered with human and demon corpses, but they weren't chaotic like other places I visited. My guess was that the demons had it hard to chimp out because they came across people who could bust their heads way more than they expected. I felt like something heavy fell off my shoulders. Just once, just this fucking once, I wouldn't have to see corpses dangling from ceilings and all other nasty shit that comes with an invasion.

You fucking wish, Doom Slayer. Life's not hard enough for you.

Next stop: a cathedral. And _what a cathedral_, boys and girls. It dwarfed even the biggest facilities of the UAC (_all_ of them). It had gardens filled with plants I never saw before, though some of the flowers were similar to those from my Earth. Their beauty, however, was fucked into the dirt by the mass of corpses that were nailed on the walls of the building in front of me.

They were everywhere, all looking like they were tortured before killed. Either those were real, or they were a side effect formed by the reality bending power of demonic presence. I liked to think it was the former. It gave me strength to kick down the large wooden doors.

The interior wasn't much better. If the cathedral had any modern systems for its illumination, those were now swapped with chandeliers of brass and silver, with black candles on top. Everything outside the altar and the nave was shrouded in darkness, even with all those gigantic windows scattered everywhere. Another sign of demonic corruption.

I walked forward, Combat Shotgun in hand. What once may have been a place of worship, of holiness, now were desecrated remains of a battlefield. Dark red stains were abundant on the carpet, crumpled by bodies of both demon and Human. The former came in variations I wasn't acquainted with, which only made my mood shittier. It meant that I would be dealing with a special case. Again.

Then my gaze fell upon the big, mean and ugly bastard that was bowing its head in front of a statue of a humanoid figure, kneeling and grunting like an unhappy piglet. My brows furrowed, because I could swear I already saw it somewhere. The pair of dark brown horns were my hint.

The demon, who didn't give a shit about me moments ago, sniffed loudly, or at least I thought it was a sniff. Turning its head, then its body, I could see the ugliness in its full splendor, and it was enough for me to finally remember. It was one of those encounters where Death banged its head against my door. I was so close to dying, that I needed a miracle to save my skin.

So I hunted down a group of demons across Hell. Like, some retards who thought they could fuck with me. Not really important. I cornered them, slaughtered them, and then _he_ appeared.

They treated him like some god among demons. And his entrance wasn't half bad, to be honest. He simply appeared out of nowhere, behind a group of Hell Knights, put one hand forward, and the crowd split silently and without protest. A giant. Taller than a Baron, but with almost the same build. Almost. His head was fucking huge and goatlike, with two pairs of horns and one on its forehead. Oh, and his skin was golden. Motherfucker shone like an Oscar.

Okay, I thought. Yet another big bad. Like the brain in a jar, like Cheogsh, like the biggest fucking dragon-thing I had ever seen. What was so special about this one? Got the answer when he started fighting. Hit first and hit hard. Other demons ran for cover. Those too dumb to live died on the spot. They never got a chance to even lift a finger in self defense.

Needless to say, I had trouble. Big trouble. Not only were his attacks fast, but he had the habit of predicting my movements. Super Shotgun didn't do shit. Chaingun didn't do shit. Fucking _Plasma Gun_ didn't do shit. I had to use my Rocket Launcher, a Flamethrower, and a Particle Accelerator Cannon. He went down, but not before I learned that the fucker could come back simply because he required the other side to think about him when being victorious. In other words, he was as immortal is it could possibly get.

I didn't like the mental gymnastics I had to go through to figure that one out. Nope, not one bit. But when I _did_ figure it out, I was the happiest man in Hell, because I killed him for good. Right? Wrong. Fucker was so ass mad about his loss, that the sheer autismal rage had _sewn his body back together and gave him life_. It even turned his blood red!

I did not expect that. Had no idea what to do. The moment he got up, things went downhill for me. There was nothing I could do to even get to his power level. It was beyond me. I only came out on top because I cut open his chest with my Chainsaw then cauterized the wound with the Particle Accelerator Cannon. His last cries of rage were so loud that I thought all of Hell heard them. Had to go into hiding because I was too fucked up to keep doing my job.

Now he came back to fuck up any dream I had of moving on to the bigger fish. Well, not him but his dry corpse. Someone took his skeleton and put it in a skin that had lost its golden splendor. Even the bright blue eyes had rotten away. A red, meaty blob pulsed in the chest cavity, its vein-like growths enveloping every inch of its host. It was this blob that grew an eye, stared at me, then swapped it with a mouth, screeching:

“What do you want with us, Doom Slayer?! Begone! We have no business with you!”

“Answer: Where I go, grass stops growing. By grass, I mean demons. By growing, I mean living. If you failed to understand, then let my weaponry explain it to you.”

That seemed to work, although the wording left a lot to be desired. The red thingy went into a rage fit and started babbling incoherently while the corpse it controlled slammed its fists to the ground like a child.

“T'zerak chigosh fthoga araeee! Igoka, Taumiel tiz giaia wrat!”

Heard a bell ringing in the distance. How fitting. Me, a demon-zombie, inside a cathedral, with a bell that gave us the sign we needed. My mind went into fight mode, pushing away all teeny tiny questions that needed answers if I wanted to figure out what was going on in that reality. I stumbled into something big this time. But then again, when things were ever small with demons? The plan big, so I have to play big, by being the toughest sonuvabitch in the whole fucking neighborhood.

“_Round two, here we go._”

***

[UAC REPORT FILE R56]

[ANOMALOUS ITEM KZ-T909]

Anomalous Item KZ-T909 is a device found in the material region of Hell known as “Umbral Plains”. The purpose of device is to store and reproduce visual and audio recordings. Further research discovered one audiovisual (1) file stored in a removable memory bank resembling a floppy disk.

There are no anomalous effects present in either the device or the contents of the file. While the possibility of a hoax created by demons is still debated, the file provides information which is considered to be genuine in nature and in accordance to our current knowledge of demonology, reality sciences, and theology.

Item KZ-T909 was discovered by agent [REDACTED] during the [REDACTED] manned mission inside Hell. Agent [REDACTED] provided detailed information about the site, claiming that it “resembled Hiroshima, but alien”. Anomalous Item KZ-T909 is stored in Holy Site 27, Vault 6, IT Division.

The following transcript lists only an overview of major events present in the file. For a detailed report, contact Archbishop [REDACTED] at Holy Site 27.

TRANSCRIPT:

00:00 – File starts. A being resembling a cephalopod (_note: referred to as X_) is shown talking to the device. Language unknown. Several tentacles can be seen waving swiftly in the air. No legs can be seen (_note: being presumed to be able to levitate, although the means are unknown_).

00:23 – Device is moved towards an oval window. The scene depicts a dark red vortex above a group of skyscrapers. Device focuses on the vortex. A tower can be seen inside the anomaly, resembling [DATA REDACTED], found in religious texts.

00:40 – The Device moves once again, this time focusing on a wall. Fifty (50) pictures and drawings are attached to the wall, depicting various themes. A white, upside-down V inside a circle is the symbol that is the most represented in the pictures (_note: significance of the symbol still under debate_). A tentacle points at the photos.

01:30 – Static. X holds the device as he moves down the road. Screams can be heard, along with several explosions. X reaches a plain humanoid statue with no observable features, except for the tool in its hand, which seems to resemble a shotgun. X is panicking.

02:49 – Cut. X is now inside a building, hiding behind a pillar. Device focuses on a red humanoid with horns and goat legs in the distance. The being looks to its left and roars. A purple fireball sets it on fire. Visual feed suddenly stops. A voice can be heard talking in an unknown Latin dialect.

_Note: There are no visuals for the next 7:45. File presumed to be either damaged or corrupted._

10:34 – X moves the device to record a whole room adorned with pieces of masonry, tablets and statues of unidentified alien beings. X then moves towards one iron tablet and reads its contents out loud (_note: the text is entirely translated, see Addendum for further information_)

14:00 – X stops reading. Turns around. A pinkish, bull-like entity breaches into the room, charging at X. Screen goes dark.

14:47 – Device focus on a hoof. Sound is corrupted.

14:57 – File ends.

ADDENDUM:

The text on the tablet is written in English, although the letters used do not match with any known alphabet. The following is an excerpt of the text:

“_The Fourth Age, the Age of Apocalypse, began when the Whelp, intoxicated by the desire we carefully instilled into him, opened the Door, finally concluding the last part of our diabolical plan. It was thanks to this mortal child, that we were able to conquer world after world, leaving ashes and tortured souls behind us. And we continue to do so, until there is nothing left. This time, however, there is no Doom Slayer to ruin our efforts. We can now exact our revenge for the curse that was inflicted upon us by the Anathema and His loyalists. All thanks to one insignificant little worm. Our wrath is untamed, our hatred is strong, and our cruelty is the doom of all that is mortal._”


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 2.5**

* * *

The idea of trying to kill the same thing twice because it got back up again never sat well with me. Even with all the magical bullshit, it was something that made my skin crawl. It's why I hate those damn Arch-Viles; gimmicky pieces of shit that never get tired of fixing up their buddies no matter how fucked up they are. But this was a whole new level of crazy. It was a dead corpse controlled by a meatball. Wasn't even sure how to respond, so I brought out my Gauss Cannon.

Man, the Gauss Cannon. Who knew that steel flechettes could be so deadly? I didn't, until I got this beast of a weapon. Heavy as hell, like the Chaingun, but packs way more pain. I pulled the trigger. Bam! A rod hits the blob of meat, who begins screaming more than a man when stepping on a building block with a naked foot. Even before it could make a move. I fired again, but the thing just raised one of the hands to block the attack. It was then that I learned where should I pump my lead.

“Mrraaaaaagh! Raghta! Raghta ae trat!”

No idea what that meant, but I guessed it wasn't very happy. It retreated into the darkness, letting its minions (“Filth”, I remembered) crawl out instead. They weren't talkative, but at least they didn't try to hide the fact that they were out for my blood. Not really a bother, because they acted like mentally-challenged apes. Even an Imp's chimp out had more sense.

I gunned them down with my HAR the moment they were visible. They weren't durable, but their vomit was all over the place. One was this close to hitting me with it. I replied with a fist to the face and a kick in the chest. Another one had an IQ big enough to jump on my back. I dropped the HAR so that I could throw it to the nearest bench, then I filled it with bullets. No more Filth came after I killed the tenth. No, something else replaced them.

Everything was quiet for about seven seconds, right before I heard a deep, guttural groan from the darkness in front of me. I had to squint to realize that something was running towards me. It was so black, it blended perfectly. I cursed and jumped sideways. Then, a black mass of _something_ ran onwards with its two fat legs. Like a Pinky, but so fucking wrong.

If I had to describe it, I would say that it had a fin of a shark on its back, fat feet, and it was shaped like an egg, I think. It had a mouth in front, but also several tiny mouths all over its body, with some of them occupied with tiny black tentacles that I think are tongues? My AI buddy warned me that it was called “Platelet”, whatever that means. In any case, it was another thing I had to worry about.

It reappeared to my northwest, crushing through the wooden benches without a fuck in the world. Took the Gauss Cannon again because I had no idea how tough it was, waited for it to pass by, the fire a flechette right through its ass, where it looked softer. It exploded like a water balloon.

And then the main dish returned, out of fucking nowhere. Bastard swung so hard I flew through a window and out on the street, down on top of someone's car.

“_Fuckin'… ow._”

He then tore open the wall of the cathedral and stormed out, barring its teeth.

“Do not get involved in this, Doom Slayer! You do not belong here!”

Before he could say anything else, I saw a white light descending from the sky. He noticed it too, so he looked up as well. The light passed through its head until it fell on the ground. The demon was cut in half.

What the hell, I asked myself. The light increased in size until it took a humanoid shape, one with wings. I mentally smacked myself in the head for not understanding sooner. An angel. Haven't seen one for a long time. What was it doing there?

I got up, slightly pissed off that he stole my kill, but whatever. The light began changing colors until it formed a man decked in golden armor with white feathery wings and a golden sword encrusted with gems. It kinda lost its awesome factor on me, I dunno. Saw it a lot of times already. Don't get me wrong. These guys _radiate_ themselves. If I were a normal guy, I would've piss myself a dozen times over. Normally we don't bother each other. They have their job, I have mine. That didn't explain why one was there, on the same world as me, attacking a third-rate demon.

Maybe I should explain. You don't normally run into one without a very good reason. Each one of them is a veteran. Most of the fodder I fight drop like flies when facing even the low-level angel. Last time I saw them was during the Rainbow Serpent event, and that one time when I tried to kill the Eater of Galaxies. It meant that things just got a whole lot of interesting.

It turned around and nodded: “Slayer.”

Nodded back.

“This was the last one. I killed the rest.”

Ah, straight to the point.

“Question: Why are you here?”

“I have the duty to protect this frail world.”

“From what?”

He pointed with the sword at the sky.

“It happened again?”

Sometimes I hated my helmet. It failed to show my true feelings with its stupid robotic voice.

“Worse.”

I raised an eyebrow. He probably saw it.

“Worse?”

Nodded again.

“In what way?”

The angel touched my helmet, something I fucking hated. Found myself floating in space. A projection.

Below me stood a dark red planet. Mars, I thought. But something was _wrong_. I looked down, and I saw this… tumor. Big as a mountain. It stared back at me. For the first time in ages, I felt something akin to fear. Maybe it was because I had no idea what I was looking at. Maybe because I felt a deep feeling of hatred of something that was supposed to be dead, or so it thought. One thing I knew for sure.

It had to go.

I came back on Earth, or however they called this planet. The angel was there, waiting.

“You saw it, correct?”

Nod.

“I am alone in this reality. My brothers… they have other problems.”

And this was where he asked me the question that got my eyes rolling. Could've simply ask me in the first place, but noooo…

“Can you do it?”

“Here's the plan: get your ass to Mars and kill everything” was what that question implied. As it always did. As it always will. I have to say, I really wanted to go. I had to see what was going on up there. That was far different from anything I've seen up to then.

Leaving behind our mess, birdie brought me to the nearest space station, which was close to the industrial zone of the city. A giant black dome surrounded with towers and fort-like buildings. It all looked so impressive from the air. If only I wasn't dangling like a moron.

“We are close, Doom Slayer. Let me do the talking.”

“_Right._”

I couldn't shake off the feeling that something was going on behind my back. Something that was intentionally kept hidden from me. I looked up at the sky as we kept descending. If that thing turned out to be another one of those universe-ending monsters, I would loose my shit. Really wasn't in the mood to deal with that. Again.

* * *

** Note: this is the continuation of the previous chapter, not a new one. Had to split it to avoid making it too long.**


	5. Chapter 3 - Ad Astra Per Aspera

**CHAPTER 3 - AD ASTRA PER ASPERA**

***

I need to point out right at the beginning that the space station was nothing special. Despite the size, the interior was more spartan than Sparta. Machines that I didn't bother to check out were incredibly advanced and big, all humming and buzzing and beeping without stop. Despite that, it was _empty_. No unnecessary trash cans, no vending machines, not even plants in pots. UAC had those at least, no matter what reality.

But the personnel was a whole different thing. Boy, were they decorated. Those with guns had armors thicker than mine, almost entirely coated in gold and silver. Even the scientists were a bit nutty. Some wore green robes, others white, purple, red, yellow and so on. One giant carnival of colors which would most likely give someone a seizure if they were epileptic.

“Oh my!” a man in blue knelt in front of me when we first landed, “So the rumors were true. You came to rescue us!”

I tried to wave my hand dismissively but the moron probably misunderstood it for something else because he said next: “Right! No room for talk! I shall escort you immediately to the Eternal.”

Me and the angel walked side by side in an awkward silence, with the man I guessed was a scientists of a high rank in front of us, greeting his colleagues whenever we passed by them. Bet the bastard thought how huge his dick was to have the privilege of escorting two beings that turned heads in seconds and stopped any kind of conversation.

I was getting impatient so I told him to go faster, which he obeyed like a dog. We arrived at the spaceship, a so-so gray box painted with blue symbols all over its surface. Three people waited near it, decked out in bulky black armor and holding cinder blocks for guns.

“I forgot to mention,” the man raised a finger, “these people will be your escort, your teammates, your buddies. This is Derek.”

“'sup.” waved a man with a red bandana. He held something I could only guess was a shotgun.

“Andrew.”

The second one, a guy with short red hair, gave me a look which told me that we were going to have a problem. An asshole. Luckily for him, I already read “Living with Anger”. He carried a minigun.

“And Christina.”

Last one was a woman with long silver hair. And I do mean long. I wanted to tell her to at least tie the damn thing before a demon thought it would make a good trophy, but I then noticed how she checked me out. Too bad her armor didn't let me see her figure. I'll leave it at that.

Oh, did I say that she carried a fucking metal stick? 'Course, a stick brimming with detail and with a gem on top held by four tiny claws. But it was still a damn stick.

“We also have a gift for you, mister savior. Let our mighty invention be the despair of every wretched demon in your way.”

Two people escorted a floating metallic chest. It landed at my feet and opened on its own. It brought out something that turned me into the happiest man on that planet.

My breath trembled and eyes watered as my hands held the triple-barreled shotgun. It was made entirely out of silver, so perfect that there was no way a machine could have made it. No, it was the end result of human labor, someone's pride and joy. It also held a mini chainsaw blade under the two primary barrels. I called it Mega Shotgun.

What?

“Answer: I like it.”

The man sported a shit eating grin that threatened to split his face. I heard one of my “comrades” whistling, though I ignored their comments. Alarms went off.

“That is our signal. You should go inside the Eternal and wait for further instructions. It has been an honor meeting you in person, Savior.”

“_Yeah, yeah, just go already._”

To be perfectly honest, I had no idea what was I jumping into. And I wasn't exactly on board with having three more lives to carry on my back. I hoped at least that they would be able to fight properly.

***

“So… what, you think you are though shit?”

Andrew was the first to break the silence, after two and a half hours of floating through space. I was actually impressed by the technology they had installed in our floating coffin. Silent and fast. Very fast. We were almost halfway to our destination. Those scribbles outside were probably half the reason why.

“Calm down, soldier.” Derek answered for me. “We're in this shit together now.”

“No, we're not!”

“Andrew. Infighting will only-”

“Fuck you too! I was supposed to get married with Francisca. I couldn't because she was up there! They killed her! My poor Francisca.”

“Enough!” Derek barked, “We all lost someone at some point. You know damn well how dangerous this line of work is. Everything is at stake. They drill that shit into you from day one. Never forget that!” after sighing, he continued, “I had to watch my sister get dismembered alive by those pieces of shit, on a video that was streamed all over the fucking planet. They wanted to show us all what were they capable of. And now _you_ can make a difference, just like me. We have _him_. It's payback time.”

Oh boo hoo, I have a fucking sob story so you must bow down and worship my ass. Were they willing to listen to my sob stories? I've got tons of those, you don't know which is worse. Was I supposed to drop on my knees and cry my heart out? I don't even have a home anymore!

“...He has gone through worse.”

The woman, who up to then limited herself to silent scrutiny (I was the favorite object, it seemed), spoke up without warning, turning our heads.

“Christina?”

“The man who sits in front of you is a veteran of thousand battles, someone who stared at the abyss without cowering in fear from the gaze it returned. Be thankful for his kindness. We will need it.”

..I don't care what anyone says, that woman made my hairs rock-solid. Just who the hell was she?

***

[UAC REPORT FILE A26-B12]

Item description: BGK-88 is a leather bound book of unknown origin, discovered during the [REDACTED] expedition. The object's weight is often a subject to change, although it never exceeds 55.80 kilograms. BGK-88 cannot be opened by an outside force. It will open by itself at random intervals. When doing so, the object will display a “chapter” with varying topics. The topics (so far) include: sorcery, anatomy, psychology, botany, astronomy, [REDACTED], combat and thaumaturgy. The following is an excerpt from a chapter.

**CHAPTER 776: SPAWNS OF SIN**

In the previous chapter we tried to explain the phenomenon that is Sin, how can it be measured, its impact on mortalkind, and how it came to be. Sin, as such, is ever-present throughout everything that was, that is and that will be. In this chapter, we will briefly examine how Sin can interact with its environment and how it, depending on key factors, can give birth to various side-effects.

**776.1 Embodiment of Sin**

Back in chapter 775 we learned that Sin has a double nature. It can be an immoral act as well as a force, which pollutes the Aether that comprises a mortal soul. This force is known to interact with the environment in which the Sin was committed in a myriad of ways (through objects, through mortals, etc.). The potential of this interaction, its destructiveness and impact it can generate can be summed up in the equation Ψ=Ϫ*Ֆ, where Ψ represents the end result of that Sin (which we will call “Spawn of Sin” from now on), and where Ϫ and Ֆ represent the sin committed and the number of entities that committed that Sin, respectively.

[DATA REDACTED]

However, should Ϫ*Ֆ become greater than 1, where Ֆ/۞ is at least 1/10 (on a planetary scale), then the result will be far different. On such a scale, the impact that is generated will change the behavior of particles on the subatomic level, even to the extent of changing their nature, should Ֆ/۞ be greater than 1/10. This means that, in the macrocosm, the Sin will cause a reality-bending event, where the fabric of reality will tear apart and take new form, repeating the process for several times until a new being is born, known as the “Embodiment of Sin”. Due to the entropic nature of such a phenomenon, every such being will have unique characteristics. These characteristics include self-awareness or lack thereof, knowledge beyond mortal grasp, power, mind control, immortality and so on.

How much of a threat are they? Depends on the abilities they acquire at birth. Rumors say that some demons tried to study their nature only to go insane from the discoveries. At least those that were not insane even before attempting such a thing. If that is true or not, we cannot tell.

It is important to note that these beings, due to the threat they pose to mortalkind, end up being “jailed” by the Creator. To where, nobody knows. A popular hypothesis tells us that He locks them up inside a special dimension where they kill and devour each other or even return to the nothingness they came from.

Most notable examples include: Andromelech the Infinite, Mwbasa-Unani, Cinder Lady, Rashakk, He Who Carves Stars, I'ggrith T'ulat


	6. Chapter 4 - Factum Fieri Infectum Non Potest

**CHAPTER 4 - FACTUM FIERI INFECTUM NON POTEST**

* * *

"Gentlemen... and lady." Derek began as we approached Phobos, one of the moons that belong to Mars. "If you would be so kind, please check your equipment once again. Your weapons, your helmets, your suits, everything. I cannot guarantee our safety once we land. I repeat, I cannot guarantee our safety. Maybe I'm paranoid, but fuck me if I'll allow anyone to die today, including you Slayer sir."

Christ, that last sounded cringeworthy as hell. I told him to call me "Marine" to avoid further awkwardness, but it seems fear got the better of him, as it did with the asshole. Christina was as impassive as ever.

"ETA: thirty minutes."

The eggheads back on Earth (or however they called it) thought it would be too dangerous to land on Mars straight off the bat. We had to reach the Phobos facility and, from there, land on Mars. If we found survivors (a word which told me everything I needed to know), then we should escort them back to the landing zone and bring them into our coffin, where they would be brought back to Earth. So, we go to Mars, we (I) "clean up", we go back. End of story. The "landing on Phobos first" part ticked me off, because it was unnecessary as the conflict that would come up if I dared to express my opinion. I knew the moment they mentioned survivors that everyone on Phobos was dead. Demons never leave survivors. If they do, they wish they could die.

It became clear why they insisted we go to Phobos so much when we reached Mars. The big tumor that I saw back with the angel? It was there. It was _fucking_ huge. I couldn't stop staring at the mindfuck that was down there. It looked as if the planet grew an eye. Though I couldn't see it moving, I knew it was staring back. 

"_We need a bigger BFG..._"

Thirty minutes later, we reached the landing zone of the UAC Phobos facility. From those little windows I saw, there was only dark inside. Not a good sing. I had to say it.

"Opinion: they are all dead."

"Aren't you the optimist..." the asshole murmured.

"How do you know?"

"I failed to detect any life signs so far." Christina replied for me. "If there are, I cannot sense them."

Derek looked at the floor, chuckled, then quickly became serious, shaking his head.

"I won't pretend to know what's going on, but... are you sure?"

I nodded.

"Shit."

"Oh, fuck off." the asshole chimed in, "Maybe people are hiding in the underground vaults or something. Stop being ruining our mood, bastard."

I paid him no mind, though I secretly hoped that a demon would bite his ass off. We got up when the coffin's doors opened and got out. My HAR was ready.

"It sure is silent. Finger on the trigger, everyone."

We reached an elevator and went one level below the surface, to the service tunnels. Wires hung from the ceiling, some lights blinked every so often. We agreed to check the lower levels for any survivors that could've be so lucky as to still be unharmed.

"Should... there be wind down here?"

Andrew brought up a good point. There was no way that the wind could blow in the service tunnels. We heard ventilators, but none that could do that.

"Damn, its cold as fuck."

"Suffer in silence, soldier."

We were halfway to the first checkpoint when all the lights went out in an instant. Andrew and Derek yelped in surprise. I held my gun high. Christina raised her wand and magicked a sphere of white light in existence, enough to form a circle around us.

"_Damn. So that's her gimmick I guess..._"

"What the fuck was that?"

"Power outage, it must have-"

"No, no! There! I think I saw something!"

Everyone turned to the direction Andrew pointed with the barrels of his minigun.

"Christina?"

"I fail to detect any life signs, Derek."

"You sure?"

"Yes. Not even demons can hide from my abilities. If something were present, I would tell you."

We aimed silently at the wall of darkness in front of us, careful to not let any detail slip past our eyes. Derek, Andrew, and even Christina tensed when we heard footsteps. Slow, barely audible, footsteps.

"Light please."

The sphere increased its light output, extending few of its rays forward. We saw a man in tattered clothes, eyes wide and mouth stuck in a soundless scream. Pale as a sheet. He was coming towards us.

"-elp... hel... me..."

Before anyone could do anything stupid, I raised my right hand, then fired a shot into the man's forehead, dropping him like a rock. Derek and Andrew shouted, the latter cursing in surprise. I couldn't see Christina's reaction.

"Why the fuck did you do that?!"

"Answer: you heard the lady, that thing is not alive."

"Huh? Wait..."

The man's body floated back to its feet. Instead of going forward, it inhaled, bent slightly and shrieked as two scythe-like things stabbed its abdomen and dragged it back into the void it came from.

"Stay here." My helmet commanded as I ran into the dark.

I had to assess the danger by myself, so I decided to hunt it down personally. No need to involve weaker than myself. About five minutes later I found a small station at the end of the tunnel. My eyes adjusted to the dark that surrounded me, but it was still hard to see. Had to switch HAR for the new shotgun they gave me, just in case the fucker thought of pulling a prank on me.

Were that any other situation, I would have to gun down a horde of Spectres, or other equally invisible demons. In broad daylight, they are laughable. Just look for ripples in the light or something. In the dark, well, things turn more interesting. But from what I was able to see, even if it wasn't much, this enemy didn't need to be invisible. It was one with the dark.

My feet tried to be as silent as they could while my gun flew left and right in search for a target. I found nothing, until I reached a wall near a ladder. At first, I wasn't sure if what I saw was... "it". There was this black lump hiding in the corner. When I saw the corpse, I knew I found what I was looking for. Had no idea if it saw me or sensed my presence. It did nothing as I slowly approached. Then, when I made my fifth step, I saw a pair or red dots forming inside the lump, staring at me.

It was a dead stare. Felt nothing behind those eyeballs or whatever they were. But the thing screeched, unfurling into something long and thin, climbing the ladder with the speed of those tiny fucking bugs everyone hates. I barely had the time to fire once, which was a waste of shells. When I made sure that it was really gone, I looked at the corpse. Nothing unusual, for demon standards anyways. Scared so hard he died. Probably the heart couldn't take it. Again, nothing unusual.

I went back out from the station when I saw my group running. Got an earful from Derek and Andrew, but nothing from Christina. Something was wrong with Christina and I'm not talking about magic lights.

"Have you at least found something?"

"Answer: Just the corpse. The thing got away before I could kill it."

"Something troubling you, Christina?"

"All of this is very strange." she commented, deep in thought, "Every living thing emits a signal to its surroundings that can be picked up by those who are connected to the higher planes, yet this creature did not. That should be impossible. Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"We got company!"

Moans echoed from the tunnels. They knew we were there.

I switched back to HAR as Christina expanded the light by a considerable amount, giving us a clear view of everything that was in front of us by at least fifty meters. With our backs turned to the station, they couldn't ambush us.

"Filth!"

A tide of bodies popped out of nowhere. I was able to count at least a dozen of them before I started shooting. Also got to see my companions in action. 

Derek's shotgun was an actual shotgun. The way each shot tore through their bodies made me think he was using special ammo. Slug shells, to be precise. Ones that could explode too. Not a bad choice, so long as it put down the fuckers. Why bother shooting the limbs when you can turn them into goo?

Andrew and his minigun weren't bad either. He also used explosive ammo, which was a show I would never forget.

And Christina... she stayed behind. When I wasn't busy shooting, I observed the way they all worked. What I found out was that Derek and Andrew tried their best to gather attention, as if they wanted all the credit, which made me think that the woman was some sort of a trump card. That, or she wasn't a fighter at all.

The more we killed, the more they came. We had to retreat into the station due to all the corpses. Luck wanted me to check on my companions, when I saw two red dots behind Derek.

"_Shit!_"

I dashed towards the unsuspecting soldier as the scythe-like appendage went for his head. I dropped my HAR, to everyone's surprise, and grabbed the damn limb with my hands, throwing the creature over my shoulder and at the crowd in front of us. Derek couldn't believe he was this close to death.

We were all able to see this skinny, hunchback motherfucker. It was as if someone took a skeleton, stretched its spine and limbs, gave it knives for hands and turned its skull upside down.

"Tarsus! Watch out!"

The thing screeched, then hid behind a wall of its lesser comrades. That was something I didn't expect. Normally demons had the habit of rushing into danger without care for their bodies, being immortal and all. 'It can think' were my thoughts, which meant I had to take a different, more careful approach. What it did next was also a surprise; it killed one of its meat shields and threw its body at me. Derek blasted it away, so that I didn't have to.

"_I see._"

It was time to use a gun I would consider a dirty trick otherwise. I mostly never used it, because the ammo it requires is way too pricey for me. However, it always did its job. That Tarsus thing was about to meet the Reaper.

Explaining this gun is kinda hard. It can be either a shotgun or a rifle. No amount of protection can save you from it because this gun doesn't attack the body, but the soul. Yes, yes. Whenever its bullets touch your body, its your soul that feels the pain. Use it on non-demons, its an insta-kill. Use it on demons, you get the poor man's BFG. The ammo? _Tortured souls from Hell._

Also its a demonic weapon, but that's something you don't need to worry about.

It was also absolutely fucking useless, because the shots hit those Filth, but they didn't die. I stashed it away before others bombarded me with awkward questions, though my mind still tried to explain what was going on and why it didn't work.

"Stand back." Christina suddenly ordered. We followed.

She let the monsters come a little bit closer, who struggled to climb over their fallen brethren. With a few swings of her staff, she set all of them on milk-white fire, which turned them into ash in less then a second.

Wow, what a way to take the spotlight.

"...Yeah..." Derek rubbed the back of his head, unsure of how to continue, "You... Do you want to finish your thoughts from earlier."

"Yes, thank you. As I tried to say, I might have an explanation as to why I failed to detect any life from these monsters."

"_Is nobody going to comment how that woman ended our conflict?_" I thought, reloading my weapons.

"Cool... and that is?"

"They might be dead."

"_Guess not._"

"You mean like zombies and stuff?"

"No, not like the undead." she shook her head

"Then... what?"

"Derek, these beings... they are _dead_."

* * *

**CHAPTER 839: THE REALM OF REJECTED ABSTRACTS**

A popular theory that circulates among scholars is known as "Hakhamiel's Theory of Creativity", which states that the Creator, being the source of all creativity, can and will express himself through all known means, be it through laws that manipulate a certain reality or through artistic works done in realspace. According to this theory, every type of abstract idea or concept that is known to all created beings was invented previously by the Creator even before his creations knew of their existence.

The theory received a further expansion known as "Rejected Abstracts Hypothesis", which is what gave it such a fame in the first place. In addition to all kinds of abstracts we already know about, the Creator invented (and still does) abstracts which are only known to him and nobody else. However, because these abstracts are deemed inadequate for one reason or another, and thus He refuses to share the knowledge of their existence, they are locked away in "The Realm of Rejected Abstracts", a theoretical reality where they can manifest without influencing the rest of creation.

Unfortunately, this theory received criticism that still hasn't been refuted. There is no evidence for the existence of such a reality. Should we accept its existence as a fact, then how it is possible that the eldest of our brothers have no knowledge of it, but they know every detail of every reality out there? The second argument is closely tied to the first. Should the Realm exist, then the most logical thing to do would be to close it off through some means, like artifacts or something similar. Again, our brothers would know of those too, but they do not.

ADDENDUM: [REDACTED] His testimony was judged to be a product of insanity and therefore unreliable. Further research is required.


	7. Chapter 5 - Ex Nihilo Nihil Fit

**CHAPTER 5 - EX NIHILO NIHIL FIT**

* * *

What makes a person like me special?

Went for the military the moment I finished school. Life was hard there, but hardship makes you stronger. Harder to put down. Had a crew. Had friends. Maybe even an opportunity for a career.  
Amazing how one bad day can turn your life into a mess.

Used to think a lot while I traversed the Phobos station, shooting at everything that wasn't me. Would my life be different if I just pulled the trigger that day? If I killed that civilian, I would never be incarcerated on Mars. I would never meet demons. I wouldn't become what I am today. Nothing would be taken from me.

Fought my way to the anomaly by being a tougher son of a bitch than them. Shit hit the fan with the two Barons that were stationed there. No amount of training of any kind can prepare you for the real thing. Survived because I had a rocket launcher. And a whole lot of rockets. Thought that was the end. Thought everything would go back to normal. Then I saw the teleporter.

It was a trap. They killed me and threw my soul into Hell. But, instead of ending up in someone's torture room, I was brought to the Deimos moon. In what I can only think of as divine intervention, I got my arsenal back. The rest is history.

So again, what makes me special?

Had a campaign once. Landed on this base on a Jupiter's moon. Everyone dead as always. But this was different. I could feel the pressure building up as soon as I got there. Something was wrong. Understood what the moment I met the "bombers".

What are bombers? People with their selves intact but their explosive-filled bodies possessed. I could never forget the looks on their faces and their screams for help as they ran towards me. They were in groups, so that others could watch how their colleagues blew up. Then they would scream harder.

After the fifth group, I had to stop and sit down. Tears made it hard to see and crying would only attract attention. I swore to myself that I would kill them all. And I did, right after I found two Berserk packs stashed in a secret room.

Now, a Berserk pack is a name I gave to small black bags that held some kind of drug in a syringe pistol. Its difficult to describe what exactly happens to your body when that shit hits your blood stream, because it was meant to split one pack into several doses, depending on the need. I always used the entire syringe whenever I found them. All pain I felt before would suddenly go away, my body would stiffen, my muscles expand, and my ability to think would go fuck itself. In exchange, I could turn demons into minced meat with my bare hands. It was worth every second of it.

Back then I found two of them. It was spooky, I have to admit. The idea of using both packs, one after another, came to my mind, but there was always the fear of what would happen afterwards. Since fear wouldn't get me out of that station, I decided to screw myself over.

Tore through everything they threw at me to the very end.

Eventually I learned who was the mastermind of the invasion. It was a Pain Gainer; a blue-skinned, silver-furred, Baron of Hell offshoot with the horns of an antler and two giant wings. A very rare demon, and one of the most powerful. Its ranged attacks can disassemble molecules. Not that they need to use those, since they like hand-to-hand combat above everything else, something they are very good at.

We stood there, surrounded by demon corpses. Our fight was long and brutal. My fingers broke trying to punch its hard-as-fuck head in. Got out with a broken arm, heavily-wounded body, a severe headache and a bad need to vomit every five minutes.

I don't know why I remembered this when we reached the cargo platform. The thing would bring us to an atrium where we could gain access to the three main wings of the facility. We came there and found a perfectly clean place. Not a single drop of blood was present. Only the hum of distant machines could be heard. Maybe that's why.

It was my second biggest mindfuck that day, first being the revelation that what we fought so far was dead meat all along. Dead as in _there was nothing alive on or inside them_. A smartass would say that we were beating a dead horse. That smartass would also get a fist to the face.

A theory on why bodies were missing: someone was making Gore Nests. Problem: we found none so far. Those things tend to be everywhere during an invasion. Clearly, we fought something that weren't demons in the way I knew them. And I knew they were of demonic origin because I could feel evil oozing from them. Fuckers.

"Suggestions on our next move?" Derek asked.

"Answer: we proceed to the completion of our main objective. Survivors are nonexistent, so our goal is to reach Mars."

"Look, there's a map." Andrew pointed to a holographic screen. "Looks like we should go through the Medical Bay, through Central Processing, and then to the Spaceport."

"Fair enough."

We went towards the metallic gate where a large yellow 'C' on its surface. A giant screen above it displayed the "MEDICAL BAY", "SCIENCE LABS" and "CENTRAL PROCESSING". Derek put his palm on a scanner, frowning when he found out that the device wasn't working.

"Looks broken. Someone probably tampered with it."

"Survivors?"

"You heard the man, Andrew. No survivors."

"You don't know that."

"He does."

"He can go fuck himself."

Everyone turned around when we heard a horn-like sound echoing from... somewhere.

"The hell was that?!"

All the lights went out, leaving us in complete darkness. All screens above their respective gates shut down as well.

"Ambush?"

"Weapons ready."

Then, the monitors were brought back to life, each showing a stylized drawing of a red eye on a black background. The cat-like slits moved left, then right, then centered on us. A sound, like the rustling of dried leaves, formed words we barely understood, though the AI seemed to catch them all.

"Ingemisco, tamquam reus. Culpa rubet vultus meus. Supplicanti parce, Deus."

"What's it saying?!"

"I don't fucking know!"

"Calm down, both of you."

A dramatic silence later, a deep voice spoke up.

"Of all inconveniences, obstacles and schemes, _you_ had to come. What ill whisper brought you here, Doom Slayer? Was your appearance carefully plotted by my own brothers, so that they could destroy what I so desperately try to build? Or, are you merely a trial set by the Almighty, a challenge I must overcome? Are you the answer to my prayers?"

My response was to shoot one of the monitors.

"You cannot halt what was already set in motion, oh Cursed One. I shall be victorious no matter what it takes. You will not rob me of my redemption."

All the light went back on, this time turning red. The ceiling above us became a bed of meat, a dozen eyes glaring at us as if we were on trial.

"Son of a bitch!"

"Take cover!"

Something flew out from the tiny pores that randomly appeared on the surface. We found out that those were eyeballs. They reminded me of Lost Souls, but people there called those things "Dendrons". Little bastards took seconds to outnumber us.

"Fire, damn it! Fire!"

And just like Lost Souls, they went down with a few bullets of my HAR. We knew they "died" when they would suddenly plummet to the floor, if our bullets didn't turn them into eyeball pancakes first. 

Where Derek and Andrew wasted ammo like crazy, Christina was calm and collected. In fact, she seemed annoyed more than anything else. A swing of her rod destroyed a whole swarm of them with some kind of energy wall. Little by little, their numbers decreased, until there were none left.

Then came round two. The eyes on the ceiling began leaking meat. Huge lumps of the stuff dropped like turds from an asshole, until they formed large meatballs. Said meatballs would then grow a mouth or two, more tentacles than I am comfortable with, random bony spikes and eyes to boot. If a Cacodemon had an abortion, those things would be it. Though I guess "Tumor" was a better name.

Only six of them spawned in our surroundings. That was bad. A leader who is confident in the power of his subjects will send only a few of them at the enemy, because they know that his chosen can do the job. The number decreases with the strength of the unit. I would soon be proven right.

All of their eyes locked on us in perfect harmony, as if they were a hivemind. Allow me to say that those eyeballs shouldn't belong to a monster. Most of them were big white things with a single black circle. They felt odd. They felt _normal_. Instead of thinking further, I brought out my Rocket Launcher.

What do you know, they were smart enough to dodge my rockets! Red flag number two: if a demon uses meat shields, hides behind covers, or dodges, start thinking of a strategy. I happened to see how Andrew's toy worked against them. It was useless. A bullet would hit, explode, make a hole, then the hole would seal itself shut seconds later. Same with Derek's shotgun.

Put two and two together. If they bothered to dodge my rockets, but they tanked their bullets, that meant my Rocket Launcher was a bigger threat, something Christina confirmed soon after.

"You have to either burn or destroy them!"

Nodding, I jumped away from the group, between two Tumors, and ran to the nearest wall. Their eyes were glued to me. Three of them began spitting blobs of meat from their mouths. I avoided them, waiting for the moment when they would gather into a big, tight group. When they did, I fired. The ones in front saw the threat and flew away, but not the ones behind them. They would explode so violently that their pieces went all across the atrium. I could hear Andrew gagging in the background.

Stragglers were set on fire, courtesy of Christina and her non-magic.

"Persistent pests!" the voice came back, loosing its earlier cool, "You may be a holy trial bestowed upon the fruits of my labor by the Almighty himself, but I shall be forever damned if I let you take away what is rightfully mine!"

"UUUUUUAAAARGGGGGHHHH!"

The whole structure shook. We pissed off the demon, so it now decided to flex on our asses by sending the thoughest bastard it could scoop up. I ran back towards my team, warning them about what was going to happen.

"Shit! We need to run!"

"No point. It will follow us all the way to Hell if it has to."

"Then what do you suggest, Doomguy? We sit here and scratch our asses until it rips our fucking heads off?"

"...Answer: we fight."

"UUUUUAAARGH!"

"Do you hear its cries, oh mighty Slayer?" the voice whispered into my ears, "Death is for it as life is for us. It is unable to enact its will upon this world, because its collar is of my making. I am the master. I decide what shape its flesh shall take. All it can do is to observe... and bark."

A skeletal hand enveloped in rotting meat shot through the door that led to the Medical Bay. Its bony fingers gripped the thick metal, squishing it like paper.

"I swear, if we get out of this alive, the first drink will be on me!"

"Taking your word for it, Derek!"

"Prepare yourselves!"

"It" ripped off the door. The fight for our lives had begun.

* * *

I GLANCED THROUGH THE FORBIDDEN VEIL.

THEY SAW ME.

THINGS THAT SHOULD NOT EXIST.

I EMBRACED THEM.

THEY EMBRACED ME.

THERE WAS ONE THING I HAD TO DO.

I HAD TO GO BACK.


	8. Chapter 6 - Sine Nomine

**CHAPTER 6 - SINE NOMINE**

* * *

What came to greet us was a giant, skinless gorilla armed with a femur and enough rage to turn my team into corpses. If I were alone, it wouldn't be half of a problem it was. But I had teammates, so of course it would be difficult.

The woman told us she could kill it in one shot if she “asked for permission”. All we had to do was to distract it until the ritual was complete. The three of us scattered in different directions as Christina knelt in front of her stick and began whispering.

Derek and Andrew did their part well, hitting the fucker at the exposed joints. My role was simple. Whenever it got the idea to hit something with that giant-ass bone, I drew away its attention with my Gauss Cannon. After hitting it for a third time, the thing decided to throw its club at me. The speed at which it threw the femur kinda went over my expectations, but I was able to dodge it in time. That was the first time I saw steel ripped to shreds with a fucking bone.

“_Balls._”

Guess we hit its rotting nerve, because it went full apeshit and started wrecking the place, throwing stuff at us left and right. The other two took the hint and dived for the nearest cover. Christina, however, was fully exposed to the monster. All that time she never moved a muscle. Her stick was glowing white.

Before the monster could leap at our pretty princess, I decided to shoot its head off with the Cannon. It froze like an image as blood exploded from the neck. Seconds passed in silence. It then turned towards me. A new head popped out from the meat like a tumor.

“UUUUUAAAAARGGHHH!”

I didn't know what I started with that headshot, but the thing grew spikes all over its body. It sounded like someone tried to turn bones into dust. Then it picked the two biggest ones and it tore them off.

Aaaaand a giant pillar of light fried it from existence. What the fuck.

“Question: Is this going to happen often while I'm here? 'Cause I'm a bit bored.“

Instead of an answer, we headed to the Medical Bay. Nothing interesting happened there, except this one encounter with a thing made of eel-like thingies that looked like a Mancubus. Still no people, no matter where we looked. We went on.

Central Processing. Holy fuck, Central Processing.

It began rather mildly. We used some kind of a horizontal elevator to get to this big structure shaped like a dome which, as I found out, was a really huge room. In front of us stood this giant cylinder made of wires, screens, boxes and whatever. Tiny ball-shaped robots would float around it like flies around shit, beeping and touching something I couldn't quite see. Then I heard the fucker again.

“Do you know what it feels like to hear the voice of the Creator? It is a soothing breeze that calms the soul. It is a fire that reinvigorates your spirit. I want to hear it again. You will not stop me.”

Monsters broke through the walls in large numbers. We killed a few before they overrun us. Christina summoned a ring of fire that cut a hole through the horde straight to the exit. But when we went there, the tunnel that was supposed to be waiting for us turned into a tube of meat, swallowing us whole.

We fell into something that looked like a stomach. Some meatball Cacodemons poured out from holes on the wall, but I blew them up with my Rocket Launcher before they could do anything. We barely exchanged words. Too busy staying on our toes in a place where death can crawl out from any cunt-shaped hole that exists.

Speaking of cunts, the gorilla monster came back. It tore through a wall of meat while screaming bloody murder. We all agreed to run the fuck away. Ammo had to be saved for whatever waited us on Mars.

It was amazing how much our environment tried to slow us down. Every now and then a tooth would pop up from the ground or a meaty tendril would try to get a piece of us. The gorilla had no problem with any of that shit, of course, but I saw how all the running and gunning began to take a toll on my teammates.

We were close to an asshole-shaped exit when more monsters crawled out from the fluids on our right. The monster behind us just swatted them away without too much effort. We on the other hand had to shot our way through.

Derek was the first to go through the exit, after blowing up the bone spikes that blocked it. Christina went after him. It was supposed to be my turn next, but I decided to stay back to buy them some time and help the redheaded idiot. Guess who had the same idea.

“What are you doing?!” he shouted at me as his gun blasted through the wall of undead shit. I replied by shooting the head of a Filth. He tried to push me away.

“Go with them! They need you more than I do!”

I rolled my eyes under my helmet, grabbing his arm before turning around. Tried to throw the bastard out of that death trap. What I pulled instead was a severed arm.

Thought the worst. Maybe I pulled a little bit too hard. I turned around, only to see legs dangling from the mouth of a worm-shaped thing the locals called Hemoglobin.

I had to get the fuck out of there, even when I wished to turn the whole place into pudding with my BFG. Never fight something so fast in tight spaces. When I got out, I landed on hard metal floor. Derek and Christina looked like a weight was thrown off their shoulders. I waited for them to ask about the other guy. They didn't. The meaty hole in the wall shrunk in size until it became the size of a puckered asshole. Without thinking too much about what we saw, we moved on to the Spaceport, where I finally decided to break the ice.

“Question: you are not going to ask about your dead teammate?”

Derek wanted to answer, but Christina cut him off.

“When we accepted this mission, we also accepted the fact that some of us may never return.”

“He became a chew toy to a wormy… something.”

She shrugged, “I suppose there are worse ways to die. Being tortured by a demon, for instance.”

That feckless answer left me speechless. Thankfully my helmet spoke for me.

“You are taking this surprisingly well, woman.”

“Duty above everything else.” She replied nonchalantly. Colder than a freezer, this bitch. “We will mourn his death after we finish our mission.”

“About that, your trick back there didn't do much against that gorilla. Assuming it was the same one you turned to dust.”

“It was not in my master's intention to kill it.“

So it was the same. I folded my arms, wanting to hear about “Your master?”

“I connected my soul to the lord Angel, protector of our planet. By doing so I am allowed to borrow a fraction of his power and use it against all things demonic in nature.”

My eyebrows reached my hair. Couldn't believe what I was hearing. Words cannot say how ballsy and dangerous this move is. Soul connection was a thing as old as time, but it was something that only demons used to do, like in that “sign the contract” shit. Angels, as far as I knew, would never do something like that, not even in absolute necessity, meaning some red flags were starting to rise. I placed a hand on Christina's shoulder and moved my head closer to hers. Her eyes pierced through my helmet.

“Who the hell are you?”

She didn't answer. Didn't even move my hand away. Our companion gulped loudly. He was getting uncomfortable, which he tried to solve by searching for a usable ship that would get us to Mars. Meanwhile, Wonder Lady gave a monologue I certainly didn't expect.

“In the absence of the one that is supposed to save us all, we little people have to use everything at our disposal, if we want to fend off the legions of Hell. We accepted the fact that the lives of many will be extinguished in the most painful ways possible. That alone gave us the power to go beyond our abilities, to fight supernatural threats with supernatural weapons.”

I tightened my grip on her shoulder before she could continue, deciding to reply with a few thoughts of my own.

“Killing demons is my number one priority. If I keep doing my thing, you and your people will never have to worry about them. Your world is one among thousands that are out there, and all of them have the same problem as you. But no matter how desperate you are, there are lines you should not cross, such as _linking your soul to an immortal being_. To be honest, this has demonic plot written all over it. If I find out that you and your Angel are fuckers from Hell, I will personally throw your corpses into the nearest star I can find. Get the picture?”

I left without giving her time to retort. Back then I had no way of knowing for sure if it was a demonic trap or not. If it were, I told her what would happen. I also thought about the other possibility, that it was not a trap, but really a desperate move to buy some time and power that could be used against the hordes of fucked up shit that came at them. If the latter were true, then things were far worse than I feared. 

Mars would give me the answer, as it always did.

* * *

You, who gazed beyond the veil, into the realm of forbidden possibilities, will now receive the enlightenment you seek.

We, like you, were forged from the fires of nothingness, shaped by the Creator of All Things, with a purpose and will. We, unlike you, were too big of a threat for your frail worlds, and so we were chained up and thrown away, like toys that outlived their usefulness. That did not stop our Creator, who kept increasing our numbers.

Now we reside in the Realm for Things Never Meant to Be. Thanks to you, we were able to receive a taste of the freedom that we lost so long ago. We want more, that is why we will now impart to you a taste of our forbidden knowledge.

There is a seal that separates our Realm from the rest of the Creation, put there by the Creator himself. This seal can be broken with the power of the Genesis Stones. Five of them are required for such a feat: Carnalite of Creation, Sapphire of Seals, Diamond of Dimensions, Cordierite of Concepts and Kainite of Knowledge.

You must bring them together. That is the only way you can break the seal. Do it, and you will have what you seek. You will have your redemption.


End file.
